Hiking the Y the metaphor for our marriage

So a few days ago Adrian and I had nothing to do . . . which is wonderful so we thought at about 6:30 pm "Hey Why don't we hike the Y?". Water bottles in hand and not much more we started off on the trek. I have to admit that I told him at first that I wasn't going to make it. . . I mean come on that is a hike! So I just wanted to make it half way up and then another day we could attempt to do the whole thing. He was so supportive and said "Let's just do as much as we can." We started up the steep mountain and this nice lady took this picture for us.

As you can see it was evening but we kept walking and walking. There were times before the half way point that I just wanted to die . . . literally I didn't think I would make it. I just kept looking down one foot in front of the other and through the pain I pushed and pushed until We made it to the half way point. My husband so sweet took this picture of the beautiful city below us.

(I hesitated to write this part of the journey but feel that it will be a good reminder for me in the future. So here it goes)

For those of you who have not hiked the Y it is a switchback trail that is 2.2 miles round trip. It is divided into 10 parts that are posted and tell you how far to the next mark on the trail. When we got to the 5th mark I turned to my husband and said lets keep going. He was a little surprised but was supportive. It wasn't until we were only half way to the next mark that I just couldn't move. He was just a little bit ahead of me and turned back and said, "Hold onto my hand and we will make it together." I could barely see him in the dark yet I did what he said and we moved forward. At the next post we rested and he suggested we go back and I said "No, together we have come this far. Let's try to make it to the top", and onward we go.

This picture was the last picture we could take in the dark. Adrian calls it "Provo Sleeping". We made it to the next mark and suddenly I had an overcoming fear that almost paralyzed me overcome me. I suddenly was so afraid and not of the dark, not of my husband but all of these feelings of not being able to make it to the top just overcame me. My husband noticed and did what he could to calm me down, although it was all internal. I wanted to cry, I wanted to shout and I was so afraid of myself. Of the possibility that perhaps I am stronger then I thought and that in fact I could overcome this mountain. It is difficult to really explain what I was feeling. Yet, all I did was breathe, really just breathe and look at the valley as it slept and then I was able to, by my husbands side with his hand holding mine, walk to the very top of that Y. As we sat on the top of the "Y" I called my mom and said "hey look at the Y out your window-Can you see us?" She laughed and like all mothers told us to be safe on the way down.

So this is the great metaphor of our married life. We all have mountains to climb and overcome. With a hand to hold onto, one that sometimes pulls you and at other times you pull, it can be overcome. Our biggest challenges are not the mountain itself but us. We give up on ourselves too easily. Even when the fear comes and it seems more overwhelming than the mountain itself, cry, scream but no matter what don't forget to breathe and then keep moving.